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I glance over to Rai, both of us rather nervous. "It's been a long time since I was last off the Grand Line." He mutters looking down at the side of the small vessel we stole. "It feels different." He says.
I nod my head in agreement. "Well, the East Blue is calmer, supposed to be at least." I say trying to pinpoint on why it feels so much different to be here on this sea.
"Well, it does feel calmer." Rai offers as we sail almost idly through the sea, now going by a map instead of a log pose of any nature.
I nod my head agreeing with this, "It's rather peaceful." I say as we continue to sail. "We'll need to stay on alert though." I say quickly remembering my own family history.
"Rosie," Rai say softly as we get closer and closer to the end of the journey. "What happens when we get to the end?"
I shrug my shoulders completely unsure of what will happen. "I find my own truth?" I say questioningly. Part of me is dreading that I'm getting so close to it. The part that wishes I could just stay with Marco and not go off continually to do this dumb journey. I'm not even sure why some of my family performed this journey more than once. "Let's just get to this island and then get back on the Grand Line." I say feeling wishful.
"We'll need to stop over at an island for supplies." Rai advises, I simply nod my head. I'm far too stuck in what could happen once this is all done. "Rose, we got to focus, just because we're here out of the Grand Line doesn't mean we're safe. It's like you said, we got to stay alert."
I let out a sigh and focus on there here and now. "Right," I mutter looking around, smirking slightly at a very relaxed Pumpkin.
…
Rai is shopping for a new vessel with Pumpkin, while I shop for food and various supplies. While walking down the cobble stone street, having bought an ice cream, I walk calmly, completely aware of the two men following me.
"You should conceal yourself better," I call over my shoulder casually, smirking at two men watching me from a distance. I raise my ice cream to them before walking on, neither deterred by my acknowledgement of them.
Stopping in a store to buy some non-perishables I smile happily to the store owner. "You're being watched, you know that right?" The woman says in a hushed tone. "Newcomers aren't really welcomed here." She says wrapping my purchases up in a brown paper then tying it for me.
"Why not?" I ask curiously as I hand her payment.
She glances around before answering nervously. "They worry strangers will stick their noses into their business." She says disdainfully. "We used to be a really happy place to visit, a lot of fun, people from all over used to visit. If I were you, I'd get off this island and get far away while you still can."
Before I can question her more on who 'they' are I'm shooed out of the store. I find Rai as promised with a new boat, "Did you get the fridge?" I ask curiously as I stock our shelves.
"Yeah, I figured you'd just complain if I came back without one." Rai says gesturing me towards a door in the back of the kitchen, as I open it I grin rather pleased. "A big one since we seem to have so much stuff you like to keep cold."
"You're fantastic, I'm so glad you've finally learned to listen to me." I say jokingly. I glance towards Rai and nod upwards to deck when I hear a sudden silence around what had been busy dock. We both ready ourselves and head towards the deck, finding the entire dock now void of any citizens, rather now a ton of men in black suits watching us.
"They're the guys that were following me around." Rai says casually.
I smirk and lean against the railing. "Same here," I answer rather amusedly. "I'm not sure we're welcomed here." I answer feigning hurt.
"You're not," A man says as he walks forward, this one in a grey suit, looking rather sharp, an old man boards our vessel looking around disdainfully. "You two reek of trouble."
"We're just stopping over to buy supplies." I answer watching him carefully, knowing better than to just jump into a fight by now, "We'll be gone by morning."
"Not soon enough, but we'll allow you to be on my island for now, cause any trouble or give us any reason otherwise and we'll be sure to eradicate you from our little and happy community." He states brushing off dust on his shoulder. "Happy travels." He says insincerely as he gets off and walks away, leaving three of his men watching us.
"I didn't see any kids playing in the streets or parks." Rai says once he's out of sight. "I didn't see people smiling or laughing."
"I was warned to leave." I tell him as we get off as well, waving to the men that will be following us no doubt. "I'll finish shopping for food; you get any other supplies we need." I say watching the men carefully, three following us and leaving the ship behind, Pumpkin staying on our ship.
"Got it, be careful, and please at least try to stay out of trouble." Rai says pleadingly as we slit up at the market square. I nod my head to this and wave to him as I head off to buy more food.
Things go mostly smoothly, I had to haggle on a few pieces of meat and make a couple trips back to the ship, but other than that the shopping adventure is rather tame. As usual though, I find myself in the middle of trouble, well about to dive right into it.
"Please stop," I hear a little girl whimper as I make my final trip back to the ship, "I didn't mean to," She pleads crying now. Setting my bags down I follow the sound of her crying. I see two men standing in front of her, both holding up pistols and aiming at her. "I swear, I'll bring you the tribute money!" She continues to cry.
"You know the penalty for paying late," A man says, running forward I jump over them and shield the little girl. I feel pain shoot through me, gritting my teeth I stand up. "Who are you?" One of the men question.
"A decent human being," I answer simply. The little girl clutches onto my leg, still whimpering and crying. "We'll just have to see you guys later." I say simply, getting out of the small girl's grasp I manage to kick a gun out of a hand, but get shot in my side again as I'm unable to dodge. I shoot both men with the gun I caught, both dropping to the ground dead. "Let's get out of here." I mutter to the girl, picking her up off the ground, heading back I grab the groceries and quickly get back to the ship. The way back the girl is clutching onto me tightly. "It's alright, what's your name? A pretty little girl like you must have a pretty name." I say trying to calm her down.
"J-J-Jamie," She stutters through her tears trying to speak smoothly. I'm not able to get much more out of her and frankly I'm in a lot of pain right now.
"See, a pretty name for a pretty girl." I say forcing myself to sound upbeat and happier than I am at the moment. Then again, I'm not really sure how people do much after they've been shot.
"What happened?" Rai asks seeing me stumble along, taking the bags and the girl his eyes widen. "Rose, you've been shot. I should have known." He mutters quickly helping me back on board. Jamie watches as Rai takes the two bullets that had been lodged into my side out, her crying even harder as I'm patched up.
"Rai, we got to take that guy out." I say simply. "They were his men, planning to shoot little Jamie for not paying tribute money on time." I explain leaning back, pain shooting through me.
"Well, thanks to your little stunt, I doubt we have any other choice. I should have ran faster, as soon as I heard the first shot go off I just knew it'd be you." He mutters while frowning.
"I'm usually at the center of trouble," I joke as I sit up, ignoring the three worried looks. "We won't have much time."
"Rose, you do realize I can't save you if you get injured any worse than you already are, right?" Rai questions me as he tries to force me to lie back down. "Look, I get you wanting to save the island, but I'm not going to let you if it means you dying over it."
"And I'm not letting other kids getting shot for paying late. They shouldn't even know that kind of fear." I argue back just as heatedly. "You're not going to be able to stop me; the only thing to do is help."
"And what do you propose we do?!" Rai asks exasperatedly. "Rose, you realize you vivre card is burning, Marco knows you're injured. Hell, he has a better idea of how bad the damage done is than we do!" Rai says trying to reason with me. "What do we just storm the place and," Rai leads off glancing at Jamie before looking back at me. "Do we just go in and off them?"
"And you still know that won't convince me otherwise." I say getting up, gritting my teeth through the pain. "Now," I say turning to the little girl. "Tell us all about what's been going on here." I say calmly, ignoring Rai's fanatical plan for the moment, even though I'm thinking it'll be our only plan.
Jamie sniffles nodding her head. "Mr. Acciai came here four years ago, I wasn't that old, but my mama says that things are really different now. Mr. Acciai came and gave us all these rules, having to pay tribute money on time or someone is collected for later. Curfew, everyone has to be home by night fall, tribute money is supposed to be paid at the end of each week, a set amount, the kids have to deliver it or the youngest in the household." She explains crying even harder. "Daddy was taken before because my family couldn't pay the full amount." She wails.
"Jamie we'll take you home, stay inside alright?" Rai says calmly as he takes the little girl's hand. Rai and I follow Jamie to her home, once she's safely inside Rai glances to me. "It'll be a bit difficult with you being patched up and all; we'll have to get you to a real doctor. You know that?" Rai questions me as we head off towards the big house, the mansion that overlooks the entire village.
"Yeah," I say quietly walking with Rai, ignoring the pain in my side. Saying it'll be difficult is sugar coating it. I'm comfortable in close combat; I don't do guns or anything like that. "How tough do you think this guy really is?" I ask quietly trying to gauge the man that uses intimidation and senseless violence to get what he wants.
"He's dangerous for sure. But we should be careful, even if we're not in the Grand Line." I find this statement all too true. Rai and I make our way through town quietly, both of us aware of the men following and closing in on us, Pumpkin isn't with us, I'm assuming he's in the back biding his time before he makes any sort of move.
"What's the point on being on this island?" I question the man waiting at the top for us. "Mr. Acciai?" I ask calmly.
"Did you know that this island is one of the few that have the perfect cross breezes from the other three seas, and a steady tropical climate?" He asks. "The vegetation on this island does exceedingly well, as does a particular plant that produces a rather addictive and rare drug that people pay nearly anything to get their hands on."
"Drug ring right here in the East Blue," Rai says sounding rather disgusted. "You wouldn't be supplying these drugs to doctors or decent citizens would you?" He asks doubtfully.
"Decent citizens and doctors can't really afford the competitive price," Mr. Acciai says indifferently. "Those who can do tend to have dirty hands, but what can I do?" He asks smiling rather sinisterly at us. "But you both seem far from being altruists, I hardly see how it matters if my clients aren't do-gooders."
I glance to Rai and smirk. "Well, when you go around shooting kids for tribute money," I say narrowing my eyes on this drug lord. "You know I kinda of see a problem with that, shouldn't it be the other way around, you're the one invading on their island." I say curiously. "Rai, isn't it a bit strange? Shouldn't Mr. Acciai and his men be the ones paying them?"
"You know, I'm inclined to agree, I think you guys have this whole thing backwards, then again, now Rose and I were only talking about it, but we aren't sure you and your whole operation is exactly suitable for being her or even existing, right Rosie?"
"You know, that's funny, because I got to say, I do agree Rai." I say chuckling; I grab one of the blades on my waist, something Rai has insisted on, and deflect a few needles. "I'm not looking to be an addict." I say calmly. "I wouldn't mind testing the idea out on you though." I say deflecting a needle at Mr. Acciai.
Unlike me, Mr. Acciai pulls one of his men in the way to take the needle. "That's a bit rude, just a bit of a taste, I thought you might enjoy."
"Like I said, neither of us are exactly looking to be dependent on some drug." I say uninterested. Instead of waiting for Mr. Acciai and his men to make a move I move in first, Rai following suit. I deflect needles while Rai shoots, by the time it's over Mr. Acciai, Rai and I are the only ones left standing.
"Where exactly are you two from?" Mr. Acciai asks while dusting his suit off from the dust, he however didn't make it out unscathed like Rai and I, Rai got him in the leg. The bleeding on it suggests that Rai hit very close to some artery.
"We spend a lot of time just sailing around," Rai answers while shrugging his shoulders. "We're a bit new to the East Blue."
I nod my head, "We usually spend most of our time in the New World." I answer to be a bit more specific. "I got to say, it's so strange to only need a map to sail around here." I say warily approaching Mr. Acciai.
"Whitebeard Pirates, big fish in a small pond," Mr. Acciai says annoyed by the revelation. "Now what? Tell me to live my life differently? Be honest? Give back the money?"
"No," I say holding my knife ready as I approach. "We're not the sort to give second chances." I tell him coldly. "Not when you're murdering innocent civilians."
Mr. Acciai looks at me, a quick flash of fear in his eyes before I hold my knife up to his neck. "Then you'd condemn this island? My clients know that this is where I've settled my operations; they'll come here demanding here for more product."
Rai shoots as Mr. Acciai makes a sudden move, dropping to his knees, as his fingers uncurl a single syringe filled with a deep purple liquid shatters on the ground. "Well then, I guess we better send a message." I say stepping away, finally allowing myself to cradle my midsection. I glance at Rai, both of us knowing what we have to do. "He's the middle man," I say feeling the blood seep through the bandages.
"Yeah, and you need treatment, let's get back to town and find you a doctor." Rai says picking me up. He doesn't leave room for me to argue, not that I can. I clasp my eyes shut as I suffer through the pain now shooting through my body. The pain is even worse, I torn the gashes in my side up even more, I got more cuts on me, and I've lost quite a bit of blood.
…
"I'll be back in a few days," I tell Jozu calmly, the piece of paper in my pocket alarming me more and more.
"It's Rose, isn't it?" He asks calmly. Hesitantly I pull out the vivre card; it's going fast. "How long has it been like that?" He asks watching as I pack my bag.
"Not long, two thirds of it was gone in a matter of seconds," I confess worriedly. "I'll be back when I know she's safe." Jozu grunts in reply, leaving me along as I finish preparing for the long flight ahead of me.
I leave as soon as I have my bag on my back, flying out my window I rush in the direction of my Rosie. I forget about how we've been fighting lately, how her letters seem distant and how she hardly says anything other than the small reports of how things are ok and just going fine. I find myself thinking about when I first laid eyes on her, the way her vibrant hair fell to the ground and her eyes passing from shock to alarm as she shoved me out of eyesight.
I only stop to check if I'm heading in the right direction, more of me getting worried as her vivre card begins to diminish again. "Dammit Rose," I mutter heading towards her even faster. I'm not losing her too, I refuse to. I worry about Rai and that damn fox, are they injured too?
...
By the time I land on a little island a week later Rose's card as began to restore, slowly, but it'd seem her life force is returning, though there are times that it begins to burn all over again before it starts to restore again.
"I told her you'd come running as soon as you saw her card," I hear the very familiar Rai complain; I turn around and nod at him. "Rose is resting right now, has been for a week now, which I'm sure you know isn't an easy thing to do."
"Can you take me to her?" I ask quietly, suddenly questioning why I hadn't just turned around as soon as I saw that she was getting better, though I know it's because I miss her, I miss how we'd been, I didn't want to risk it.
Rai nods, waving for me to follow him. "It must have been pretty bad to begin with for you to come out here so quickly. It took us over a month to get here." Rai says worriedly. "How much disappeared?"
"Over two-thirds," I answer quietly. "The damn girl drives me crazy." I say letting out a frustrated sigh. "Is it better to ask you what happened?" I let out an exasperated sigh as Rai simply shakes his head. The walk through town is rather short. We come upon a small hospital type building, I hear a small kid crying, other people thanking someone profusely.
As I stop in front of the bed where people are thanking Rosie, her smile drops when she sees me, but is then replaced with another smile, this one is different, this one is relief. "The doctor told me it was bad, but I guess it must have been to drag you all the way out here stranger." She says looking pass all the villagers and to me.
"Would you mind if we had just a moment to ourselves?" I ask keeping my eyes locked on Rose. I wait patiently as everyone files out of the large room; I take the seat where the little girl had been crying. Sitting on her bed I take Rose's delicate hand. "I'm sorry." I say quietly. "I shouldn't have treated you like a kid, when you've obviously grown up."
"I'm sorry I said that I'd find someone else," Rose says quietly, her playful nature taken over by the mature and lady like side. "It must have been pretty bad for you to come all the way to see me."
"Rose," I say seriously trying to keep my head, seeing as I tend to have a problem with that when anything concerns her. "What happened?"
"I got shot." Rose says simply gesturing to her midsection. "A few times, and maybe stabbed a couple times too," She confesses quietly. "Dodging met letting a little kid get them instead. Letting it go meant letting an entire village suffer." I quickly realize her motivations. "Rai and I took down a rather large drug operation, he destroyed all the plants, manufacturing buildings, research, any of the left over drug, erased all traces of the drug. I would have helped, but you know." She mutters glancing around the room.
"For the kids?" I ask simply, Rose nods her head. "I love you." I mutter leaning down as I press my lips to her forehead.
As I pull away I feel Rose's hand wrap around my own. "I love you," She whispers back. "I'm completely and totally in love with you." She says sighing rather happily. "If being on some island means going without you, than I'd rather give it up."
I blink stunned by Rose's statement. "I take it you're not going to give up on the whole wanting to have a kid." I say sighing, I smile affectionately at Rose.
"Well, I'm kinda thinking that'll be a while. After all I have to get you warmed up to the idea, and not just because I almost died. I think I'll save that for when Rai comes back to you guys."
"You're delusional if you think for two seconds you won't be on the same ship." I say seriously, smiling when Rose simply grins at me cheekily. "I walked right into your trap." I mutter quickly realizing what I'd just done. "Rosie you're sneaky." I mutter leaning down to kiss her.
"Well I wasn't exactly going to let you just kidnap me again." She says against my lips, and the idea excites me, though I know I can't steal her away from her journey. "With you being here does that mean I get to take you along with me like Rai and Pumpkin?" She asks after I pull away.
"Goddamn it," I mutter, sighing I pull away and stare at Rose, her hair pushed to one side and over her shoulder, the way her matching eyes watch curiously. "You and I both know, I'm not going to say no."
"Well you know womanly charm." Rose teases, she yawns once and I move to sit in a chair, much to her displeasure. "Later, when you're not put up in a hospital or recovering from being shot and stabbed." I tell her smirking, I take Rose's hand and smile as she leans back, obviously tired. It takes a few minutes, but Girlie falls asleep peacefully.
